Wow. This brings out the crotchety old man in me so strongly I almost want to throw my current board away, and not replace it. I hate to see classic games watered down this way, and that goes for all the *opoly versions as well.

I'm going to have to disagree pretty strongly on "Zombies!" being a good game. The main mechanic -- that each player has cards which help or hinder other players -- makes for the longest, least fun end game I've ever seen, Monopoly included. 75% of the game goes along fine, and 25 of the game is dogpiling on the guy who is about to win by delaying him for one more turn.

I'd be curious to see this version of Risk, but am a bit gun-shy after Risk: Legacy. That version has a sci-fi world where your faction gains new power, where you build, fortify, and ultimately nuke cities, and where create effects on the board that persist into the next game. I want you to think about a game of Risk where it's impossible to forget your friend's killer play in game 2 that's still biting you well into game 13. After seven games a few of us agreed to lose it in the closet, then go to our FLGS to see if they had something new that didn't make us want to murder our oldest friends.